University Professor Eileen Crimmins elected to National Academy of Sciences

Eileen Crimmins, University Professor and USC Davis School of Gerontology AARP Professor of Gerontology, has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences in recognition of her scientific impact and leadership.

Membership in the academy is one of the highest possible honors for scientists in the United States. The academy includes approximately 2,250 members and nearly 440 foreign associates, of whom approximately 200 have received Nobel prizes.

“Eileen is an incredible scientist whose scholarship, creativity and insight have shaped the field of gerontology and beyond,” said USC Davis Dean Pinchas Cohen. “Her election to the National Academy of Sciences is a richly deserved honor, and it is a privilege to have her as a colleague at the Leonard Davis School.”

An influential voice

Crimmins is a world-renowned researcher in demography, socioeconomic differences in health and global aging who has received many other major honors for her scholarship. In recent years, she has been listed as one of the world’s most influential scientific minds in social sciences by the media and information firm Thomson Reuters, was elected to the Institute of Medicine and received the Gerontological Society of America’s Robert W. Kleemeier Award for outstanding gerontology research. Her USC honors include the Associates Award for Creativity in Research and Scholarship.

She is the only new academy member from USC this year and one of 84 new academy members from across the country. Having been a USC faculty member since 1982, Crimmins credited the university and USC Davis in particular for providing an exemplary environment for her scholarship.

“Any success I’ve had is due to my career here at USC and specifically the USC Davis School, which has been a multidisciplinary and forward-thinking environment,” she said.